"
AirPort Extreme Base Station Firmware 5.0.3 is an upgrade for the AirPort Extreme Base Station. This firmware revision is not for use with the original (Graphite) or the dual-Ethernet (Snow) base stations.

What's New :
Version 5.0.3 fixes an issue where an AirPort Extreme network appears to be
unavailable as displayed by the AirPort Menu Extra or the Internet
Connection application. This behavior may result from excessive 2.4 GHz
radio interference which causes the wireless network to disappear. The
update allows the base station to more gracefully recover when exposed to
sources of interference.
Requirements :
Mac OS X 10.2 or 10.1.5 (with the Networking Update) "

In regards to the note in yesterday's news that the Radeon 7000 and 8500 driver pages were revised Feb 24th to note up to OS 10.2.4 compatibility, an ATI contact returned my call from yesterday to say that there were no actual driver changes - the Feb 24th update was to the installer only - to fix a bug where the installer would overwrite some later files present in 10.2.3/10.2.4. (This happened in the past to some readers - the fix was to reinstall the 10.2.3 update via a download version).
Also the reader (John) that wrote yesterday about an OS 9 boot freeze after installing the X drivers said that running Diskwarrior on the drive solved the problem.

I think someone had posted a note on a cheap/large LCD at walmart in the forums some weeks back but can't remember if it's the same model. (it was - here's the thread from about a month ago.)

"
Hi Mike,
Thought I'ld send a review of this extremely cheap LCD from a graphics pro perspective. It's my first LCD.
It's the Microtek c893 bought at Walmart for $400. It has a 400:1 contrast
ratio, 200cd/m brightness, 160 degree viewing angle, 1280x1024 native res
w/75hz verticle refresh max, and VGA only connects. It's exclusive to
Walmart. The Walmart site says only available online, but I picked it up here in smalltown Kerrville, TX.

Not good for color managed workflows, though. I now know what sRGB looks like (colors aren't as saturated) and I also know my current old CRT has been a PressView clone all along by color comparisons to this model-phosphors do make a difference. But text looks sharper than a tack without antialiasing enabled on my 9600/300 w/stock 8mb ixmicro Vcard. The
digital menu controls are better than my $600 5 year old Princeton Graphics 19" EO90 CRT.

The Phase button enables elimination of text ghosting and quivering acting as a sharpness adjust. (some other LCDs have this - early Apple non-ADC models I had did.-Mike) It has separate sets of RGB adjusts for contrast and balance to control crossover, purity and intensity. It's blindingly bright. I had to turn it way down when I got it home. In the store it was set brighter than Apple LCD's I saw at CompUSA which were quite dark and I couldn't find the hardware controls to adust it. The Walmart guy said he hooked it up to a Dish reciever that had a VGA connect and he played HDTV broadcasts beautifully.

Using Apple's default SW calibrator I saw the limitations for graphics work. No matter how I adjusted the brightness and contrast, the 20 step gray test strip always had abrupt jumps at the 90% and 80% black points depending on 1.8 or 2.2 gamma sets respectively. I never could get smooth transitions like my CRT.
(I hate to keep harping on it - but after adjusting the display's controls, give SuperCal profile software calibration utility a try - it has a wide range of adjustments and is easy to use.-Mike)

It did not have the claimed 160 degree viewing angle. Sitting at normal computer OP arms length, if you moved your head lateraly in line with one edge of the display, the opposite side would fade out and change color temperature. The farther back, maybe 3 ft., far less fade. This unit works better as a TV.

I would recommend this LCD for its extreme sharpness, far less glare and better contrast than a CRT. Very easy on the eyes and the pocket book, but you do get what you pay for. LCD's are improving, though.
Tim Lookingbill
"

(from a reader email, updated 6PM for more comments on encoding time w/G3)I do not own the CaptyDVD software, although there are many reports on it here from the past.

"
Mike,
I finally heard back from LaCie's tech support. After several consultations with
at least three people there, they told me that CaptyDVD's software-based MPEG-2
encoder *does not* have a "pause/quit/resume" feature (like iDVD and Formac's
Devideon do). This makes the LaCie bundle of limited value to people like
myself, who have a single G3 machine that they use for all of their computer
needs. For folks with a G4, or a separate (hardware or software) MPEG-2 encoder,
it is probably still a terrific solution. As nice as it would be to have the
chapter support features of CaptyDVD, I just can't leave my iMac alone for four
days while it encodes a DVD. I'm going to have to go with the Formac.
Curt
(I asked Curt about the "days" of encoding comments)
Using both M.Pack (under OS 9) and the demo of Formac's Devideon, my
encoding:playback time ratio is ~50:1 on a 400 MHz G3. So, yep, days
to produce a DVD. (I ordered the Formac yesterday.)
This seems to bother a lot of people, but I figure it's just part of
the package. That it can be done *at all* on a G3 makes me happy, and
DVD's certainly aren't the most important thing I use my iMac for.
I figure that I'll just keep saving my pennies for a Mac with
superdrive, and hopefully about the time my current machine becomes
"really" obsolete, there'll be dual-layer 9.4 GB DVD-R's, and I won't
have to curse myself for buying too soon :-)
Thanks,
Curt
"

iDVD requires a G4 CPU (and internal supported DVD-R drive) and takes about 2 hours or so here on a G4 tower for a full DVD-R iDVD project to encode/burn typically, but I don't know how long a G3 CPU would take to encode a full DVD disc with CaptyDVD. If any G3 Mac owners have tested that, let me know (include your system/CPU speed and details in any reports. Thanks)
If you have an internal DVD-R drive and G4 CPU already, the cheapest option for DVD authoring software currently is the $49 iLife package which includes iDVD3. (I'm waiting to see what Roxio's future DVD authoring package will cost since CaptyDVD from Lacie separately is $149 (but bundled with their new FW DVD recorder drives). Roxio's mac package might be an attractive option for owners of external DVD recoder drives which are not supported by iDVD if the price is $99 or so.)

Since I'm not sure that Apple's itunes compatibility page list all the drives natively supported in 10.2.4, Anthony Tambourino sent a list of CDRW drives he compiled from the device plugin files in 10.2.4 for Artec, LG, Lite-On, Plextor , Samsung, Sony, TDK, Teac, Toshiba and Yamaha. (He later sent a listing of Matshita, Mitsumi, Philips, Pioneer, Ricoh and Sanyo models) I've added this to the FAQ's CDROM/CDR section also for future reference. (The FAQ's CDROM/CDR section here has modified plugins for many unsupported drives, but this is a list of the drives included in Apple's default installed plugin files for those brands.)

"
(Note- Yesterday's news had a modified Samsung SW-248F (48x24x48x) plugin file, if your SW-248 drive is reported by Apple System Profiler as a "248B" (48x16x48x) model, Anothony sent a revised Samsung device-plugin file for the "B" model that I've added to that FAQ item.-Mike)

...following is a list of the drive models I pulled from a number of the device plug-in files when looking for a support drive. It is not all of them. All I did was cut and paste it out of the HexEditor file and put it in a Text Edit file, then cleaned it up by getting rid of all the periods (".") and extra characters. I think I kept all (or most) of the drive model numbers correct, but it may be a useful reference for people looking for supported drives for their Macs. (Note: These are device plugin files for 10.2.4).

If your drive is not in this list - check the FAQ's CDROM/CDR section to see if there's an already modified one there. This past article here on Guide/Tips for Discburner/Itunes Support has tips on editing the files for unsupported drives using various methods (Hexedit, BBedit, Resedit (for OS9), etc.)

The Rate Your CPU Upgrade database has been updated with 4 new reports this morning (reader entries from yesterday; entries today are added the next newsday morning). Total to date: 8,112. Here's a summary of the updates added today :

Apple OEM G4/350 ZIF in Beige G3 (rated 9)

Powerlogix G4 1.2GHz in G4/466 AGP (rated 9)

Sonnet G4 800 in 9600/233 (rated 10)

Sonnet G4 700 in 8600/250 (rated 8)

(Warning - Overclocking may not be reliable and could lead to hardware failure or corrupted data.) You can find the full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database for entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand). For detailed reviews with performance tests and install tips, see the CPU Upgrades page.)

You can find full owner reports (latest shown first) by searching the database by drive/brand/interface/mac models (the latest reports are shown first in searches).
For guides to installing CD/CDRW/DVD drives or Hard drives in many mac models, see the IDE Articles page. The Firewire articles page also has guides on case kits, installing drives, etc. If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database. (If you post an updated entry - make sure you use the same name, etc. as you did before so I can find your past entry. Thanks.)
(Incomplete entries are deleted. Do not post questions in the database, it's for drive reports not questions on what drive to buy - for that try searching the database for reports from owners of your mac model on the drive type/brand/interface, etc. you're interested in.)